Here in Iowa, it’s really easy to get locally-produced corn, soybeans, pork, and, to a lesser extent, beef. The other stuff, like, say, rice or kiwi fruit, is rather difficult to get from local producers.
That’s why grocery store stuff tastes the way it does; people won’t buy it if it looks funny–thus “baby carrots,” which are ugly carrots cut down to look pretty.
For some reason, our local farmer’s market is only on Wednesday from noon to 6….so in order to be able to afford to buy things my wife and I have to be at our jobs when its open. I guess those things are really intended for the unemployed.
Also, there was a line in there about the carrots looking weird. There’s a really good article in this month’s National Geographic about that. About the ungodly amount of food that’s wasted on a planet with starving people because it’s visually unappealing, overstocked at a store/restaurant, or various other reasons.
Oddly, it left out the arbitrary and stupid expiration date and container regulations that the FDA shoves on us for no good reason.
@6: Food wastage has always kind of interested me.
Consider just three scenarios, out of many (I’ll omit shipping and transport losses):
1. The food you buy in a store may come in quantities that you do not choose to eat in one meal, or in subsequent leftover meals.
2. The food you order at a restaurant may (predictably, it seems to me) come in quantities you cannot physically eat in one meal.
3. The food you reject at restaurants as unappetizing cannot legally be offered to anyone else.
… and scenarios go on and on. The dormant food in the possession of people who don’t want it could probably feed Michael Moore and Oprah Winfrey put together.
5. Even if we switched to buffet-style restaurants rather than fixed portions, how could the restaurant possibly predict the correct amount to order? Result: wastage rather than disappoint customers.
Here in Iowa, it’s really easy to get locally-produced corn, soybeans, pork, and, to a lesser extent, beef. The other stuff, like, say, rice or kiwi fruit, is rather difficult to get from local producers.
That’s why grocery store stuff tastes the way it does; people won’t buy it if it looks funny–thus “baby carrots,” which are ugly carrots cut down to look pretty.
For some reason, our local farmer’s market is only on Wednesday from noon to 6….so in order to be able to afford to buy things my wife and I have to be at our jobs when its open. I guess those things are really intended for the unemployed.
So does that mean these “local produce” types don’t eat bananas or go to Starbucks?
This is why I hate Whole Foods itself:
http://www.popsugar.com/food/Whole-Foods-Sells-Peeled-Oranges-40442153
Also, there was a line in there about the carrots looking weird. There’s a really good article in this month’s National Geographic about that. About the ungodly amount of food that’s wasted on a planet with starving people because it’s visually unappealing, overstocked at a store/restaurant, or various other reasons.
Oddly, it left out the arbitrary and stupid expiration date and container regulations that the FDA shoves on us for no good reason.
@6: Food wastage has always kind of interested me.
Consider just three scenarios, out of many (I’ll omit shipping and transport losses):
1. The food you buy in a store may come in quantities that you do not choose to eat in one meal, or in subsequent leftover meals.
2. The food you order at a restaurant may (predictably, it seems to me) come in quantities you cannot physically eat in one meal.
3. The food you reject at restaurants as unappetizing cannot legally be offered to anyone else.
… and scenarios go on and on. The dormant food in the possession of people who don’t want it could probably feed Michael Moore and Oprah Winfrey put together.
4. the way we prepare foods also involves discarding bits that would feed hungry people.
5. Even if we switched to buffet-style restaurants rather than fixed portions, how could the restaurant possibly predict the correct amount to order? Result: wastage rather than disappoint customers.